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November 25, 2015 11:18 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (Nov. 25)

  • 6 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

MoreSmarter-ThanksgivingIf you can make it to the break room and back without seeing another person, you have our permission to go home (after you read this). It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► State Sen. Tim Neville (R-Jefferson County) has been fairly quiet since he began campaigning for U.S. Senate a few months ago. Yesterday, Neville took time off from dialing for dollars to join the fear-mongering parade on Syrian refugees with a scary fundraising email. Perhaps Neville is taking a cue from Republican Presidential candidate Marco Rubio, who said over the weekend that the Paris terrorist attacks were a “positive development.” Sure, a lot of innocent people were killed, but it’s not all bad if it helps you raise money for your campaign!

BTW, if you had any concerns that Neville might get squishy on his fervent anti-choice beliefs…well, you need not worry. Nobody is going to be flanking Neville on the right when it comes to abortion.

 

► You may have heard of the (cough-cough) “bipartisan” group of former Colorado lawmakers pushing for changes in Colorado’s reapportionment/redistricting process. What you haven’t been hearing from some of the cheerleading media outlets in Colorado is that Initiative 55 is a jumbled mess of a policy proposal. Colorado voters shouldn’t be asked to vote on a crayon drawing.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson isn’t crazy or completely incapable of understanding foreign policy matters…he’s just misunderstood. Yeah, that’s the ticket! As Drew Magary of GQ magazine explains, “Carson knows a goldmine of asinine cannon fire when he sees it.”

Elsewhere, Politico reports on Carson’s efforts in 2003 to create some sort of universal health care program that he tried to set up through a charitable nonprofit. We won’t ruin the surprise, but you can probably guess how that worked out:

The national fund did not materialize, and over nine years of operation, Angels of the OR [Operating Room] generated less than $150,000 for patient care and helped 34 patients cover portions of their medical bills, according to its tax forms. Carson had said he wanted to raise as much as $20 million in seed money, but the charity collected less than $1 million from donations and celebrity-studded events — like a private benefit headlined by Kenny Rogers and the 2003 film premiere of “Stuck on You,” in which Carson made a cameo appearance.

How is it possible that this man could potentially become President of the United States?

 

► John Frank of the Denver Post spent his Tuesday listening to Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during a series of campaign stops in Colorado:

Hillary Clinton put her focus on domestic issues in two campaign stops Tuesday in Colorado, as the Democratic front-runner raised big money and attacked Republicans for their “inflammatory talk” on the campaign trail.

The former secretary of state pledged to address climate change by investing more in renewable energy and ending subsidies for the oil and gas industry. She took aim at the gun lobby as she pushed for universal background checks and the closure of gun-buying loopholes. And she championed a list of Democratic touch-points from abortion rights and marriage equality to raising the minimum wage and equal pay for women.

“I want you to listen carefully to what these Republicans say about our basic rights. Because they are attacking our human rights, our civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, immigrant rights, voting rights — everybody,” Clinton told roughly 500 people at Manual High School in Denver. “They are equal opportunity attackers and insulters.”

During her time in Colorado, Clinton apologized for using the term “illegal immigrants,” calling it a poor choice of words and a phrase that she would no longer include when speaking about the subject of immigration. “As I’ve said throughout this campaign, the people at the heart of this issue are children, parents, families, DREAMers,” said Clinton. “They have names and hopes and dreams that deserve to be respected.”

 

► Dave Perry of the Aurora Sentinel considers Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman to be “a strange party of one”:

I’ll admit that at times it sure looks like Coffman’s political compass is stuck pointing to far right. And it’s sad that she wants to always defend states’ rights to do so much wrong to the environment, the planet’s worsening climate problems, the most abused people on Earth, Steve House and our part in the Gitmo disaster. But as Colorado political history has frequently shown, what looks like a duck and quacks like a duck almost always turns out to be a lot of bull.

 

► So, apparently there is a growing controversy about whether President Woodrow Wilson — also a former President of Princeton University — should be scrubbed from the school’s campus because Wilson held some fairly racist opinions in the 19th Century. Colorado Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley), a Princeton alum, made sure to make his opinion known on the matter:

“Instead of fighting dead, racist Democrats, these students should be fighting against the worst part of Wilson’s legacy: an overbearing federal government that denies opportunity to young Americans.”

ZING!

Ugh.

 

► A Chicago police officer has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a black teenager in 2014. A graphic video of the event shows a Chicago police officer firing 16 shots at Laquan McDonald in October 2014.

 

► A vast majority of Americans say that they have very little trust in the federal government, according to new research from Pew. As our friends at “The Fix” explain, this is exactly why famous rich person Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican field for President. Here’s another chart that shows Trump’s considerable political resilience.

 

 

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Meteorologists haven’t had much luck with accurately forecasting Colorado weather in recent years, so they’ve decided to break out the Thesaurus. Check out this gem from the Denver Post about a possible winter storm heading our way:

The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for northeastern Colorado as an arctic front slides south Wednesday out of Wyoming.

Hazardous weather outlook?” What happened to “warnings” and “watches?”

We’d love to update you with our own weather forecast, but the Colorado Pols Quadruple Doppler (with Cheese) has been on the fritz lately.

 

► Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz is touting a new endorsement that is more than a little bit icky. As Kathleen Turner (yes, that Kathleen Turner) writes for the Huffington Post:

Last week, Ted Cruz promoted the endorsement of Troy Newman, an anti-choice leader who has gone so far as to say that a perfectly biblical society would execute its abortion providers.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Ted Cruz is so thrilled that someone who wants abortion providers to be killed is supporting him that he actually sent out a press release to celebrate the endorsement. Is that what this Republican primary has come to? Presidential candidates applauding — not denouncing — these radically extreme positions?

“Is that what this Republican primary has come to?” Um, yeah, Ms. Turner. Where have you been?

 

ICYMI

► Denver Broncos backup quarterback Brock Osweiler was named the AFC “Offensive Player of the Week” by the NFL on Wednesday, following a strong performance on Sunday in a 17-15 victory over the Chicago Bears. That’s good news, because starter Peyton Manning will be out for at least the next two weeks.

 

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Comments

6 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Wednesday (Nov. 25)

  1. Smart Scientists vs. Dumb Republican Science Committee Chair:

    Seven major American scientific societies sent a letter to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) on Tuesday, rebuking the congressman and defending a paper published in Science last year that Smith has been investigating in his role as chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

    “Scientists should not be subjected to fraud investigations or harassment simply for providing scientific results that some may see as politically controversial,” wrote the scientists.

    The paper in question — “Possible artifacts of data biases in the recent global surface warming hiatus” — disputes the existence of a slowdown in global warming, a theory which has served as a popular talking point for people who do not accept the scientific consensus around climate change.

    Smith has subpoenaed scientists who worked on the paper at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for internal documents relating to the research and has accused the federally-funded research center of altering data.

    NOAA has resisted turning over the documents, arguing that Smith’s inquiry — what another committee member called a “witch hunt” — is both politically driven and likely to chill future scientific inquiry.

    The letter, sent Tuesday by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, the American Statistical Association, the Ecological Society of America, and the Geological Society of America, echoed NOAA’s concerns.

    “The integrity of federal scientists’ research published in the journal Science is being questioned despite a lack of public evidence of scientific misconduct. The progress and integrity of science depend on transparency about the details of scientific methodology and the ability to follow the pursuit of scientific knowledge,” the scientists wrote.

    Smith has threatened to also subpoena Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker over the documents.

    It’s a telling aspect of the state of America’s scientific literacy that the head of the House committee that covers science doesn’t believe — or trust — scientists.

    When the United Nations Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change released its most recent assessment, saying that scientists have “high confidence” that “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems” are in our fossil-fuel driven future, Smith dismissed the findings. “Similar to previous reports, the latest findings appear more political than scientific,” Lamar said at the time.

    Congress — particularly Republicans — have been criticized for being “out of step” with the American public on the issue of climate change. Recent poll results have shown that some 70 percent of Americans accept the scientific consensus that the world is getting warmer.

    Less than half of Congress — including only 30 percent of the Senate — are willing to say the same.

    That Koch Brother money has an astounding ROI, and proves yet again that our congress is the cheapest money can buy. They should all be ashamed.

  2. In fairness to the Dipshit Post, a hazardous weather outlook is a distinct product produced by the National Weather Service and meant to be advisory about conditions expected over a range of time.  From the glossary:

    Hazardous Weather Outlook

    A narrative statement produced by the National Weather Service, frequently issued on a routine basis, to provide information regarding the potential of significant weather expected during the next 1 to 5 days.

    Watches and warnings are tied to specific events expected soon or imminent.

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